More than 1,000 people marched from Colton Hall to Window on the Bay Park to honor the environment, defend science from political attack and contradict those who deny climate change.

They joined hundreds of thousands of people in 600 cities around the world in the March for Science. Among the local marchers were scientific leaders from Indivisible Monterey Bay, CSU Monterey Bay, the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey Peninsula College, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

As they marched the group waived signs and chanted as drivers honked their horns in support.

Among the chants were:

• “Thank you, science.”

• “Reason matters, science matters.”

• “What do we want? Evidence-based science. When do we want it? After peer review.”

• “Earth is our home. We hold there is no Planet B.”

• “Support science now.”

• “Political change, not climate change.”

• “Science is defiance.”

Among the signs marchers carried were:

• “Science, the mother of invention.”

• “Mad scientist.”

• “Sound science = sound policy.”

• “No science, no otters.”

• “Wanted: Warm heart, cool Earth.”

• “Back off man, I’m a scientist.”

• “Science is otterly passionate.”

The march was organized to protest the Trump administration and his moves to cut funds for such federal agencies as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During his campaign for president Trump declared climate change a “hoax.” But after three years of increasing global warming and the melting of polar ice and glaciers, scientists and their supporters marched to defend scientific facts.

At Window on the Bay, marchers were still flowing in at 2:30 p.m. About 3 p.m. the program began. Three speakers were featured. They were state Sen. Bill Monning, Arlene Haffa and Rachel Sa of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Pepper D’Amico, a Pacific Grove science student, opened the program.

“We have to be the people to rectify the damage that has been done to our environment, and we can do it without losing jobs,” she said.

Monning, who serves the 17th Senate District and Senate Majority Leader, spoke on the importance of science and technology in policy making.

“We are standing in defiance to the occupant of the White House,” and those in Congress who deny science, he said. “I speak on behalf of the majority of Californians and the state Senate.”

He said the cuts to funding for federal scientific agencies is part of Trump’s agenda and that of a broad-based Republican agenda. The importance of science in informing public policy is critical, Monning pointed out. Science has discovered the sources of diseases and illnesses and has helped save millions of lives.

“When we speak of the environment,” he said, “we necessarily speak of public health. … We are linked to all communities. … We cannot speak of the environment without speaking of health and safety.”

Our air is cleaner today because of government policies that outlawed leaded gasoline and required catalytic converters on cars, he said. He also noted that science has banned harmful pesticides and raised the issue of nitrates from ag fertilizer infiltrating water wells, lakes, streams and the ocean.

Scientists who have become involved in public policy, he said, have contributed greatly to public health.

“The proposals to defund science must be resisted …,” Monning said. “We stand and we push back to return science to the norm. We must insist that scientists are prioritized in our federal and state budgets.”

Haffa, an associate professor at CSU Monterey Bay, said she was speaking Saturday on her own behalf. She talked about the role of science education in a civil society.

Science is the norm and we need science education, she said. The cellphones most people carry are the result of science, and we are standing on the shoulders of the scientists whose discoveries led to cellphones.

Also contributing such inventions as the cellphone are the writers of science fiction who perpetuated the possibility ofsuch inventions.

At the same time, she said, science and technology bring up moral questions and concerns. Dr. Frankenstein, she said, created a monster instead of human mortality.

“Science is not good or evil,” she said, “but it comes with responsibility.”

Haffa, whose own research deals with the effects of climate change on agriculture, said the U.S. is conflicted about whether climate change is a real threat to the Earth. But, she said, “The science community is convinced that climate is changing and people have something to do with it. …

“The good thing about science, Haffa said, “is that it is true whether we believe it or not.”

Sa, an interpretive specialist at the aquarium and a graduate of UC Davis, said the aquarium works to protect the future.

“The aquarium supports science and research … and we want it inspire people to be excited about science …,” she said. “Support science for the health of the ocean and whatever fuzzy, squishy creature you love.”

For more information about the March for Science and other science events, visit includescience.com.

A previous version of this story inaccurately reported that Bill Monning is the president of the Senate.